Seismic surveys are commonly performed by oil and gas companies as they explore the subsurface for natural resources. A seismic survey consists of a seismic source that generates seismic shots towards the subsurface. As the seismic shots travel down through different materials in the subsurface, reflections are created that bounce back up towards the surface. This reflection data is recorded by detectors at the surface and can be processed to reconstruct 2D or 3D images of the subsurface. The subsurface images can be used to identify potential areas containing desired natural resources.
However, the subsurface images generated are often corrupted with noise that is present in the survey system. During seismic data acquisition, acoustic waves, coherent noise, and random noise reach detectors by propagating via the surface, and as reflected and refracted waves propagating through geological layers. The most useful parts of the seismic signals are primary reflections and all other seismic waves are considered to be coherent noise. This noise corrupts the reflection data, making it difficult to generate accurate images of the subsurface.
Traditionally, geologists have manually applied noise filters to clean up the noise in the corrupted reflection data. However, this manual process typically takes 3-6 months given the amount of data to process. This long delay can be unacceptable, particularly when a seismic shot needs to be repeated due to user or instrument error. Often times the geologist is no longer on site and cannot repeat the test.